Called Moveable Feast, the food cart/art project is a collaboration between the University Gallery at the University of Massachusetts, Nuestras Raices Inc. of Holyoke, Holyoke Food and Fitness Policy Council and UMass architecture professor Joseph Krupczynski.

Krupczynski, who was a designer in the “Greening the Valley: Sustainable Architecture in the Pioneer Valley” project at UMass last year, was talking to Loretta Yarlow, UMass Gallery director, about the Museums10 exhibition called “Table for 10: The Art, History and Science of Food.” That show is under way at participating museums in the valley.

Yarlow had asked Krupczynski if he might be able to come up with some kind of public art project involving food and community as part of that project.

Krupczynski talked to Daniel Ross, the former executive director at Nuestras Raices Inc., and they came up with the idea of a food trailer that would both serve food and provoke discussions about food.

Nuestras Raices Inc. will own the cart once it’s finished touring the valley, Krupczynski said. l

The discussion and menu at the stops vary. For example, Krupczynksi said in Northampton, they were “preaching to the choir” to those attending the Tuesday Farmer’s Market where the cart stopped. Still they wanted to be there and also support Museum’s10, which has a table at the market to disseminate information.

The guest chef was O’Brian C. Tomalin, owner of The Sierra Grill who was preparing roasted corn chowder and spicy coleslaw as well as a roasted vegetable sandwich as free offerings. He was being helped by his wife, Meghan Tomalin, who was off from her job as nurse at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Tomalin will prepare food again when the cart is parked outside Food For Thought Books in Amherst Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

Krupczynski who helped transform the traditional food cart into the exhibit said the facts on the banners as well as the food served are a way to provoke discussion about local food. The banners provide information in both English and Spanish and raise issues about food availability and the importance of supporting local farmers.

As he explains in a brochure that accompanies the cart, “Movable Feast is s a socially engaged art and food project to promote ‘Food Systems Change’ and metaphoric vehicle that advocates for building a healthier regional food.”

The exhibit provides information on food choices and health and how supporting local farmers helps the economy.

Tomalin was donating his time. “It’s a good cause,” he said. “It’s a nice community (event.)”

He said he’s also a supporter of using locally grown food.

As an architect and designer, Krupczynski said he is interested “in community-based architecture .¤.¤. how the community can participate in the building.”

Designing the cart “allows me to practice (that.)”

The Holyoke Housing Authority is sponsoring the cart Sunday, when it will stop at the Topefert Apartments, on North Summer Street from 1:30 to 3 p.m. and then later at Beaudoin Village on Leary Drive.

The cart will be at the Mason Square Farmers Market in Springfield at 10 a.m. Oct. 9 and at El Arco Iris, 561 S. Canal St. Holyoke on Oct. 12 at 3 p.m. For information, visit http://www.movablefeastproject.org/